? related to anthrax suicide - what does alcohol + tylenol w/ codeine do?

[Muttocracy]

I assume it's a double narcotic? I'm reading some of the other posts about his drinking problem - if he consumed alcohol with codeine, that must be pretty strong. I remember this weekend some folks were surprised a scientist would choose Tylenol + codeine, kind of slow. Maybe alcohol involved?

[wildbilln864]

1. a dangerous combination....

An ER nurse once told me that acetaminophen was one of their number one overdose causes. And alcohol with codeine on top of that!?

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Acetaminophen Is Surprisingly Dangerous

People take it because they're under the impression that it's safer than ibuprofen, but ibuprofen is actually safer and more effective.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

2. Codeine is a weak opiate that they will often use with prescription

tylenol to give it a little more kick. Mixing alcohol and opiates is a very bad idea that can cause your lungs to simply stop. As an additional punch, if you avoid respiratory failure, depending on the amounts, the alcohol and tylenol combo can cause liver failure (But it would require quite a bit of both the APAP and alcohol, to the point where your lungs or heart would stop before you even got to the liver damage part).

EDIT: The last part may or may not be true depending on if they are t3's, 2's, etc.

[DJ13]

3. Back in my youth (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I drank 2 bottles of

.....codeine cough syrup along with 6 beers and all I did was vomit (profusely) after about an hour.

[Muttocracy]

5. yeah, though one story talks about him downing a liter of vodka at a time :(

[wildbilln864]

6. dayyyyum!

:wow:

[brer cat]

7. I'm no expert, but it depends

I would guess on the tolerance. Someone close to me attempted suicide with alcohol + pills and wound up vomiting for hours, and very much still alive.

[1]

8. no, its not the narcotic. acetaminophen + alcohol can really mess with your liver...

taken in the right amounts you can easily die.

codeine is irrelevant, aside from making the journey more pleasant. i love codeine.

[cliffordu]

9. There is a study or two that indicates that Tylenol can kill some Alchoholics in

normal doses - turns their livers to glue....

Something about the way the liver metabolizes Tylenol, or in the cases I'm talking about, doesn't....

I understand he was trying to sober up. If he was an alkie, the overdose on Tylenol alone might have killed him.

Also: The plugged liver in a chronic acoholic will not process ethanol quickly enough....add a narcotic to the mix and you have the Marilyn Monroe model.....

[1]

11. ummm... alkie's may be alkie's, but they are not stupid. this guy clearly wasn't...

i was an alkie. and every alkie i ever met knew that you do not EVER take tylenol.

living on the streets alkie's know this. i assume someone who works with chemicals knows this.

i'm just saying...

[cliffordu]

12. They were just coming to terms with the idea that Tylenol could kill us when I

went through treatment oh....22 years ago...(fock!)

I hope it IS common knowledge now.

I'm still an addict and an alkie - just haven't had a drink or any drugs for 21 years.

The general population doesn't. I wonder if he did.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. This whole thing is a fiction. It'll all be retracted later on.

As it stands, I wouldn't believe any crap that the bush government is handing out about this thing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Tylenol (in excess) leads to liver failure

codeine is a narcotic

Alcohol potentiates it...

There you have it, from the POV of a medic, who actually saw it with several suicides, a couple that were successful in the end